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HP Patch Released to Remove Keylogger from HP Laptops

HP Patch Released to Remove Keylogger from HP Laptops

A keylogger was found in a HP laptop last Sunday. If you do not know what a keylogger is, it is software which records keyboard inputs that users make while they are using their computers. You can probably already see how this can be a big deal.

The keylogger was found in an laptop’s Synaptics Touchpad driver, or the SynTP.sys file. Unfortunately, if you have gotten an HP laptop recently there is a good chance that your laptop has been affected. The SynTP.sys file comes shipped on close to 500 of HP’s laptop models, including over 300 consumer grade laptops and over 170 commercial laptops.

Since the discovery of this file, HP has said that the file comes from Synaptic, the developer of the trackpad, who in turn then said the SynTP.sys file was just a debug tool.

However, HP seemed to think that this debug tool was worth addressing, because they made a support page for this and compiled a list of all affected HP devices, and also provided a patch to remove the SynTP.sys file. If you would like to visit this page, you can either search for it or click here to follow a link I’ve embedded for your convenience.

If you are using an HP and you are buying stuff online or managing your account, I imagine you will definitely want to rid your device of even the possibility of having a keylogger, so I highly recommend going to the support page HP has put online. If you would like to visit this page, you can either search for it or click here to follow a link I’ve included for your convenience.

This is the second time HP has had a keylogger incident this year, the first being an audio keylogger, which HP’s Vice President, Mike Nash, said the keylogger was just debugging code left by the team who developed the audio system, sounds kind of familiar right?

Well, it’s almost another year, so hopefully HP will start it off right by not repeating the same mistake again, again. Hopefully you aren’t affected by this development, you certainly won’t be if you’re getting a laptop rental from us. More importantly, I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

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